Outshining the Moon
by songstar13
Summary: Sode no Shirayuki muses on Rukia and their partnership. Dark. Two-shot.
1. Outshining the Moon

**Author's Note:** I never watched the zanpakutou arc of the anime, so if anything in my story contradicts with the anime, please excuse it.

**Disclaimer:** I own the fingers that typed this story. Everything else belongs to Kubo Tite.

**Summary: **Sode No Shirayuki muses about Rukia and their partnership. Dark.

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Sode No Shirayuki watches her. Partnerships are complicated. There are rules, unspoken agreements. It's hard to respect someone's privacy when you yourself are but a facet of the other's soul. Things slip through, become known. Even when it is not the intent, a secret may be shared. Accidents happen.

Even so, there are other agreements. They are aware of the imperfection of their shared power, of the true nature of their bond. Sode No Shirayuki is part of her. And yet she is herself. She watches Rukia, and it is from the vantage of a detached observer. She watches the turmoil in their shared soul. Not really shared. How do you share yourself with a part of your own existence?

They do not speak of the things that slip through from one to the other. Mostly it is Rukia's secrets, Rukia's problems, Rukia's thoughts, that cross the demarcation in their soul. Her soul. And they do not speak of them. This is how they have always worked.

Sode No Shirayuki keeps her attention focused on her world. The icy barrenness of it is lonely at times. The moon is always full here. Full and round and ripe. Day never really breaks in this wilderness. The time is passed between darkness and a period of half-light, a mixture between dawn and dusk. And the blackness steals to the sky again.

Sode No Shirayuki had never experienced anything else. The glimpses she unintentionally gleaned from Rukia were fantastic, impossible. She could not fathom the existence of anything other than the cold, sparkling tundra and shimmering moon. That there was another light-one that could bring warmth and life-was beyond her.

Sode No Shirayuki had no way of reckoning the passage of time. The "dawns" do not come at regular intervals. They are random, unpredictable. She doesn't know what triggers the lightening of the sky-only that it has something to do with Rukia.

The loneliness is complete. Rukia knows of her presence, but they do not interact as Sode No Shirayuki feels they could. The loneliness is chased away when Rukia draws on her strength in battle. The Shinigami calls her, declares her name with confidence, and Sode No Shirayuki is ripped from the frozen world. Her form is different. Here she is long and thin. She tapers to a precise, sharpened point. Her pure white appearance is dazzling, beautiful. She is almost too beautiful for the grisly work she is called to do.

Sode No Shirayuki lends Rukia her power. It is her purpose for existing. And what a sad existence it is. She is friendless, bereft. But she has a name. To be nameless would be agony beyond description.

At least Rukia acknowledges her existence, even if it is only because she is valued for her deadly grace, her raw power. Perhaps if she waits long enough, things will change. Each time Rukia calls for her help, she gives it willingly. She was born for this.

Eventually, Rukia asks her for more power. Sode No Shirayuki divulges the secrets of her gifts, names the attacks that Rukia can command from her.

_First Dance, White Moon. _

_Second Dance, White Ripple. _

_Third Dance, White Sword._

Their abilities grow. Sode No Shirayuki fights alongside Rukia with increasing frequency. At one point, it seems to her that she has spent more time in the physical world than she had surrounded by the landscape of Rukia's soul. And they become partners. Their bond goes deep.

Glimpses of Rukia's world become more frequent. She learns to interpret the state of the world around her with the fluctuation of Rukia's mood. Blizzards rage when the shinigami is troubled. The turmoil of the inner world betrays her anguish. There was a blizzard the day that Sode no Shirayuki found herself turned upon a human form.

Rukia was cutting down her mentor.

Sode no Shirayuki stood against the driving snow, unprotected. She was defenseless. The white expanse offered her nowhere to hide from the violent storm. She screamed at Rukia, screamed herself hoarse, but her voice was lost in the howling wind.

When the temperature dropped to the point that the breath puffing out of Sode no Shirayuki's mouth turned to ice crystals almost instantaneously, she knew that rage had overcome the petite woman. And whenever darkness fell upon the snowy world, Sode no Shirayuki felt Rukia's fear. Determination sent a steady, bone-chilling wind sweeping over the snow-covered tundra.

And still, Sode no Shirayuki weathered the elements alone. She wandered the endless plane, and the great eye of the moon watched her impassively. She had grown to love the moon and it's soft, silvery light. Once, Rukia's depression and self-deprecation had been so severe that the moon had simply disappeared. Sode no Shirayuki was plunged into a deep darkness that pressed in on her from all sides. The darkness was heavy, suffocating.

Rukia was harder to reach than ever. No matter how loudly she screamed, there was no answer from the Shinigami. And she suffered the crushing darkness alone.

Sode no Shirayuki slipped into herself. The darkness smothered her, pressed on her relentlessly. She could feel herself slowly fading away, fading into the blackness that surrounded her. She ached to be summoned out of this torture, to dance with Rukia in the leap and lunge of battle.

The darkness became heavier. Sometimes it lifted briefly, when Rukia's depression eased. Sode no Shirayuki drew in deep lungfuls of biting, cold air. The moon glowed dimly on the pale snow. It was never long before the darkness crept back in though. Hopelessness, despair. Anguish. Sode no Shirayuki's being cried out, seeking relief from the inescapable blindness. Where was the moon?

It had to be here still. Beneath Sode no Shirayuki's prostrate form, the roughness of the frozen tundra chafed at her skin. The moon was still there. It just wasn't strong enough to pierce the darkness cloaking the inner world.

_What was stronger than the moon?_

If it had been an enemy, Sode no Shirayuki would have cut it down. If it had been a hollow trying to devour her soul, Sode no Shirayuki would have sliced through it. If it had been anything but Rukia herself, Sode no Shirayuki could have saved them both.

_What was brighter than the moon?_

The moon only reflected light. It could not shine on its own. So what was it that the moon drew its strength from? Sode no Shirayuki had no answer. If she could find that source, find that which gave the moon it's light, surely _that _would be strong enough to dispel the darkness, right? If the magnificent, vibrant moon did not create it's own light, where did the light come from?

It was beyond her to fathom something more magnificent and vibrant than the moon. What would you call something that powerful? How could such a thing exist? The moon pulled the tides, outshone the stars.

_What could outshine the moon?_

Sode no Shirayuki got her answer. The answer came in a dazzling light that shattered the darkness. The spears of light pierced through it as through smoke. The darkness dissipated, unable to withstand the focused intensity of the light. The golden glow fell upon her skin, warming it.

A dark figure towered above her. Behind it, a bright disc had banished the night. The sky shone a soft blue she had never seen before, and the moon had faded to a mere ghost's image of its previous glory. It was nothing to look at now, with something far brighter, and fiercer dominating the sky.

The dark figure emanated power like the disc it had brought with him. He was Zangetsu. The Black Sun. And he outshone the moon.


	2. To Extinguish the Sun

**Author's Note:** This just felt like it needed to be written. This chapter just doesn't feel as...focused, i guess...as the one before it. I don't know. It took a lot more thought to write this one. You guys will have to tell me what you think of it.

**Summary: **Sode no Shirayuki muses about Rukia and Ichigo.

**Please Review!**

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**To Extinguish the Sun**

"_**He was Zangetsu. The Black Sun. And he outshone the moon."**_

His strength had been formidable. He demanded hers, and she was unable to refuse. He stripped her of her strength, devoured it hungrily. And the sun shone brighter. The landscape of _his _world materialized around her. His power drew her as he absorbed hers, draining her as a thirsty man might drain a gallon of water.

The buildings here were senseless. Sideways. Heavy rain clouds hid the burning disc, but she could still feel its presence. The glass windows of the buildings were warm to the touch, a glaring contrast between the frigid, frozen earth of Rukia's soul.

Sode no Shirayuki found it hard to breath. She did not belong here, and her body knew it. This intrusion went against everything that was right and natural. She tried to hold herself together, to keep herself from ripping apart as she felt she might. The tugging sensation at the core of her being was insistent, urgent.

Rukia had not summoned her, so how could she possibly have left the confines of the inner world? It was unheard of. Zanpakutous did not enter foreign souls.

The agony of the separation increased. Sode no Shirayuki could not keep herself from curling up, her arms futilely trying to hold herself together. Powerless, she could only attempt to retain her grip on her sanity.

That experience had changed her. She had begun to worry that she might be trapped inside this dizzying, inverted world. The buildings made her head spin, and she could hardly think with the disconcerting power of the sun pressing in on her. And then, the cold, shining expanse greeted her. As quickly as she had been taken from her world of ice and snow, she had returned. And there was no trace of the crushing darkness left.

Time progressed. Sode no Shirayuki watched the stranger grow, watched Rukia tutor and train him to take up the mantle they were as yet unable to shoulder. They waited. But their power did not return. Zangetsu had stolen it, and he was in no hurry to give it back.

It frustrated her to not be able to deal with the Hollows as she had before. To simply watch, in the disjointed and disconnected fragments that filtered down to her from Rukia, as Zangetsu grew and reveled in the thrill of battle, tormented her. She longed to showcase her abilities, to prove that she was more than a powerless hanger-on. It frustrated them to be so weak, to have rely on others in such a way.

And yet she pitied the black zanpakutou. His partner did not know his name, was unaware that the sword even _had _a name. What a lonely existence. Lonelier by far than the isolation she had known. He remained unacknowledged, unvalidated. Unclaimed.

Rukia never so much as breathed a hint to the boy of Zangetsu's existence. Sode no Shirayuki's anger was sharp, clear. Zanpakutous were not mindless tools. But Rukia was training the boy to fight as if they were. So it was hardly his fault when he was beaten soundly, left for dead. And it was partly Rukia's fault. Sode no Shirayuki could hardly contain her anger. It was incredible that Rukia seemed altogether unharmed by the intensity of the emotion that hung like a heavy cloud upon her soul.

The anger flowed freely between Sode no Shirayuki and Rukia. They disputed the issue openly, talked about it as they had never talked about anything before. And perhaps Rukia did not listen to much of her zanpakutou's argument, but the very fact that the discussion was possible evidenced that they had reached a higher level of understanding, and Sode no Shirayuki could not help being pleased.

Rukia was learning to acknowledge her, even though she was powerless, weak. They were well on their way to becoming a perfect union of soul and power, discretion and killing instinct. This separation of soul was hard on them both. They were part of the same essential being, and yet they operated separately, apart from each other. Two parts of the same whole, each thinking for itself, _apart _from the whole.

Rukia took more notice of the zanpakutou residing in her soul. As they days wore on, and her small cell afforded the shinigami little to catch her interest, Sode no Shirayuki found Rukia's attention focused inward far more often than she was used to. It was gratifying, this change. Rukia appeared on the snowy plain frequently. They did not always speak, but it was enough that she was there.

As the end drew nearer, their understanding strengthened. Rukia seemed to have come to terms with her fate. She awaited it, untroubled, unconcerned. Her thoughts were often occupied by thoughts of the one who'd saved them from the darkness. The sunny, loud youth who never listened and often threw his power around like a clumsy stick. She had resigned herself to never see him again.

Sode no Shirayuki knew better. She fought against Rukia's apathy, threw her anger at the boundaries of the inner world violently. She would not end this way, crouched pathetically in a cell. She would not end powerless, weak, unable to defend herself. It was a disgrace to their very existence as warriors.

The sun would not be dimmed so easily. It burned with the strength of ten million flames; a small dousing would not put out its fire. Even the brilliance of the sokyoku appeared dark and insignificant next to its vibrance.

The moon cannot shine without the sun. Sode no Shirayuki was aware how vitally important the boy had become to them. He balanced them. Somehow, even with his sideways, twisted soul, he had become the center of their circle of orbit. Without the sun, there was no light. Without the sun, only crushing, despairing darkness awaited them. Without the sun, they would disappear.

Rukia underestimated the stubborn determination of that sun. In her mind, it burned only with the strength of a single, transient candle; a small spec of light shuddering and quaking at the passage of beings whose powers far outmatched its own. This narrow view of the boy, of his zanpakutou, was grossly mistaken. Somehow, Rukia had forgotten the brilliance of that sun upon their first meeting. She had forgotten how completely he had chased away the darkness, how easily he had overpowered them, even before he had absorbed their powers. She had let doubt and fear cloud her thoughts. And without the sun to banish it, the darkness came slinking back.

This darkness was far more serious than the first had been. _This _darkness was born of self-pity and hopelessness. This darkness was of Rukia's own making. Before, it had threatened only to crush them, to crush their will and spirit; this time, it threatened to completely obliterate them. The shadow of the Sokyoku had fallen over them.

Slowly, the underestanding slipped away. Rukia grew distant, wrapped up in her own regrets and memories. Memories in which Sode no Shirayuki had no place. Memories of people and times and places that she knew nothing about.

The time was almost upon them. Sode no Shirayuki berated Rukia for her cowardice, her doubt, her fear, her blindness. But her remonstrances fell on deaf ears, for Rukia would not listen. The zanpakutou was not sure that Rukia even realized she was ignoring her. The short raven-haired shinigami was completely wrapped up in the past. Her regrets overpowered Sode no Shirayuki's voice, filled her shinigami's ears so that she could not hear what her own soul was trying to tell her.

The time was upon them, and the blazing fury of the Sokyoku bore down upon them. They would have ended that way, would have met a coward's end, if not for the unextinguishable fire of the Black Sun. That which Sode no Shirayuki had always known was made clear to Rukia in those few moments.

The only thing that could extinguish the sun was the sun itself.


End file.
